The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-11-04

Again, profound respect Tor the sabbath
wiz DO to the young man powerful preserv.
alive against evil God has thrust into the
toll and fatigue Of life q recreative day, when
the soul is especially TO be fed. Il IL no new
tangled notion Of wild Drained reformar,
but an institution established at the begin
ming. God has made natural and moral laws
50 harmonious that the body as well as the
soul demands this institution. Our bodies
are seven day clocks, that must be wound up
Is often as that or they win run down
Failure must come sooner or later 10 the man
who breaks the Sabbath. Inspiration has
called it the Lords day, and he who devotes
1t to the world Il guilty Of robbery. God
win not let the sin 60 unpunished, either in
this world or the world to come This IL the
statement Of man who had broken this d.
vine enactment;
~ was engaged In manufacturing on the
I.ehigh river On the Sabbath used to rest,
but never regarded God in 1t. One beautiful
Sabbath, when the noise was all hushed and
the day was all that loveliness could make 1t,
] sat down on my piazza and went to work
inventing new shuttle neither stopped
to eat nor drink till the sun went down. BY
that time had the invention completed.
The next morning exhibited il, boasted Of
my days work and was applauded. The
shuttle was tried and worked well, but that
Sabbath days work cost me $4,000 We
branched out and enlarged, and the curse Of
heaven was upon me from that day onward
While the divine frown must rest upon
him who tramples upon this statute, Gods
special favor win be upon that young man
who scrupulously observes it. This day,
properly observed, win throw hallowed In
fEsPBeA over all the week. The song and ser
mon and sanctuary viii hold back from pre-
sumptuous scenes. That young man who
begins the duties Of life with either secret or
open disrespect Of the holy day, venture to
prophesy, win meet with no prominent sue
cesses. Gods curse win fall upon his ship,
his store, his Office, his studio, his body and
his soul The way Of the wicked he turneth
upside down In one Of the old fables it was
said that wonderful child was born in Bag
dad and a magician could hear his footsteps
5000 miles away. But can hear in the foot
step Of that young man, ON his way to the
house of worship this morning, step not only
Of lifetime Of usefulness, but the coming
step Of eternal joys Of heavens yet millions
of miles away.
Again, a noble ideal and confident expecta-
ton Of approximating to it win infallibly
advance The artist contemplates in his
kECthb bA4Ouknb Ok4zb uo W1buco W
transfer to the canvas or the marble before
he takes up the crayon or the chisel. The
architect plans out the entire structure be-
fore he orders the workmen to begin, and
though there may for long while seem to be
nothing but laundering and rudeness, he has
in his mind every Corinthian wreath and
Gothic arch and Byzantine capital. The poet
arranges the entire plot before he begins to
chime the first canto Of tingling rhythms.
And yet, stranger to US, there are men who
attempt to build their character without
knowing whether in the end it shall be rude
| traitors den or q st. Marks of Venice.
Men who begin to write the intricate
poem of their lives without knowing
| whether it shall be Homer's odyssey" or
| rhymester's botch. Nine hundred and ninety
| nine men out of a thousand are living without
any great life plot. Booted and spurred and
| plumed, and urging their swift courser in the
| hottest haste. come out and ask: "Halloo,
man, whittier awayq' His response is, 'No-
where" Rush into the busy shop or store Of
many a one, and taking the plane out of the
mans hand and laying down the yardstick
say: "What, man, is all this about, so much
stir and sweatF The reply viii stumble
and break down between teeth and
lips. Every days duty ought only
to be the following up of the main plan Of
existence. Let men be consistent. II they
prefer misdeeds to correct courses Of action,
then let them draw out the design of knav-
| cry and cruelty and plumber. Let every days
falsehood and wrong doing be added as color
| ing to the picture. Let bloody deeds red
stripe the canvas, and the clouds of a wrath
full God hang down heavily over the canvas,
ready to break out in clamorous tempest
Let the waters be chafed, a froth tangle, and
| green with Unreasonable depths. Then take
| torch of burning pitch and scorch into the
| frame of the picture the right name for it,;
namely, the 'Soul's Suicide. If one entering
upon sinful directions would only in his mind,
or on paper, draw out in awful reality
this dreadful future, he would recoil from it
and say: cam I a Dante, that by my own
| life should write another InfernoP" But
| II you are resolved to live q life such as God
and good men viii approve, do not let it be a
vague dream, an indefinite determination;
but in your mind or upon paper sketch it in
| all its minutie. You cannot know the
changes to which you may be subject, but
you may know what always win be right and
| always will be wrong. Let gentleness, and
charity, and veracity, and faith stand in the
heart Of the sketch. On some still
| OIOOhO Dd4AA I11hO q 1b11O tALu HUI A0
down together. Draw two or three of the
trees of life, not frost stricken, nor ice glazed,
nor wind stripped, but with thick verdure
waving like the palms of heaven. On the
darkest cloud place the rainbow, that billow
of the dying storm You need not burn the
title on the frame The dullest win catch
the design at glance and say: "That is the
road to heaven All, mel On this sea Of
life what innumerable ships, heavily
laden and well rugged, yet some bound
for another port. Swept every whittier
Of wind and wave, they go up by the
mountains, they go down by the pillows, and
are at their wits end. They sail by no chart,
they watch no star, they long for no harbor.
I beg every young man today to draw out
sketch Of what, by the grace of God, he means
| to be, though in excellence 50 high that you
cannot reach it. he who starts out in Life
with high ideal Of character, and faith In
its attainment, win find himself incased from
q thousand temptations.
There are magnificent possibilities before
each Of you young men Of the stout heart,
and the buoyant step and the bounding
spirit. l would marshal you for grand
achievement. God now provides for you the
feet and the arrnor and the Notifications.
Who Is ON the Lords sideI The captain Of the
zouaves In ancient times, to encourage them
against the immense odds on the side Of their
enemies, said: "Come, my men, look these
fellows in the face, They are 5000, you are
800. Surely the match is event. That
speech gave them the victory. Be not, my
hearer, dismayed at any time by what seems
an immense odds against you. Is fortune, is
want Of education, are men, are devils
against youl Though the multitudes Of earth
and hell confront you, stand up to the
charge. With 100000 against you the
match is just even Nay, you have decided
advantage. II God be for us, who can be
against us2 Thus protected, you need not
spend much time In answering your assail-
| ants.
Many years ago word came to me that two
impostors, as temperance lecturers, had been
speaking in Ohio in various places and CIV
ing their experience, and they told their
audience that they had long been intimate
with me and had become drunkards by dining
at my table, where I always had liquors Of
all sorts. Indignant to the last degree
went down to Patrick Campbell, chief Of
Brooklyn police, saying was going to start
that night for Ohio to have these vii
lains arrested, and wanted him to
tell me how to make the arrest BE smiled
and saidl "Do not waste your time by chas-
ing these men, Go home and do your work,
and they can do you no harm" took his
counsel and all was well, Long ago made
up my mind that If one win put his trust in
God and be faithful to duty he need not fear
any evil. Have God on your side, young
man, and all the combined forces Of earth
and hell can do you no damage.
And this leads me to say that the mightiest
Of all defense for young man is the posses
sion of thorough religious principle. Moth
ing can take the place Of it, He may have
manners that would put to shame the grace
/ fitness and cnnrheax of q Lord Chesterfiald